McDonnell Douglas was one of the world’s largest commercial and military aircraft manufacturers until 1997, when it merged with Boeing. After the merger, Boeing’s commercial aircraft types took priority, and McDonnell Douglas’ were phased out, although the MD-95 survived for a while as the Boeing 717 regional airliner. Still, the merger with Boeing would mark the end of the line for the MD-11 trijet, with production ending in 2000 after 200 examples were built.

The MD-11 remains in limited service as a cargo airliner. However, its days are numbered, and the aircraft will soon be removed for good. This will close a checkered record. Part of this checkered past can be attributed to its development in the 1980s, and partly to its origins in the earlier DC-10. As McDonnell Douglas sought to increase the fuel efficiency and aerodynamic performance of the DC-10, it introduced a number of design changes that reduced the aircraft’s tolerance. Here is what to know about the 5% of MD-11s lost to accidents since 1990.

McDonnell Douglas MD-11’s Poor Safety Record

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Since entering service, the MD-11 has suffered a total of 11 hull-loss accidents. That is around 5% of the original fleet of 200 aircraft. For older aircraft from the 1960s or 1970s, this would be acceptable, but it is not a favorable rate compared with modern aircraft designs. It depends in part on the frame of reference, although it also measures poorly compared with contemporary Boeing 777, 747-400, Airbus A330, and A340 designs. The older Boeing 727 suffered around 120 airframes lost out of 1,832 built, or over 6.5% of the fleet.

The early de Havilland Comet suffered around 26 total hull losses, including 13 fatal crashes. This is out of a production run of just 114 aircraft (including prototypes), making it an appalling 20% or so loss rate. The large turboprop Boeing 377 Stratocruiser was one of the last pre-jet-powered airliners Boeing built. Out of 56 examples built, 13, or almost a quarter, were lost.

By contrast, the Airbus A350 has been in service since 2015 with around 710 aircraft in operation, of which only one suffered a hull loss accident, and that was due to a ground collision with another aircraft, not from aircraft failure. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been in service since 2011 with 1,264 examples delivered. Only one has suffered a hull loss, and its final investigation report is still pending.

Summary Of MD-11 Hull Losses

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In 1997, FedEx Express Flight 14, operated by an MD-11 (registered N611FE), crashed while landing at Newark Liberty, with the aircraft flipping on its back and burning. The following year, in 1998, Swissair Flight 111 crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 229 people on board. 1999 was the worst year for the MD-11, with it claiming three hull-loss accidents. In that year, Korean Air Cargo Flight 6316 crashed shortly after takeoff due to pilot error and the aircraft’s sensitive pitch and quirky landings.

High crosswinds overturned China Airlines Flight 642 in 1999, causing the aircraft to burn. Also in 1999, FedEx Flight 087 crashed in the Philippines after the crew failed to respond correctly to an erroneous airspeed indication. After that, ten years passed before FedEx Flight 80 crashed in 2009 in Tokyo due to high winds after a bounced landing, followed by impacting its nose, and then flipping onto its side. The same year, Avient Aviation Flight 324 crashed during takeoff.

In 2010, Lufthansa Cargo Flight 8460 crashed and landed in Saudi Arabia, with the aircraft breaking apart and catching fire. In 2012, Centurion Cargo Flight 425 was written off after its left landing gear collapsed, and it skidded for 800 meters. In 2016, UPS Flight 61 suffered a runway excursion and nose gear collapse following an aborted takeoff. Finally, in 2025, UPS Flight 2976 crashed on takeoff after the left engine and pylon detached. Additionally, Flight 583 was not listed above as a hull loss, but it is important as a fatality event. In 1993, China Eastern Flight 583 suffered two deaths after severe oscillations after a crew member accidentally deployed the slats while cruising.

The MD-11’s High Landing Speeds

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One of the long-standing issues with the MD-11 is its relatively high approach and landing speeds. It is common for the MD-11 to have a touchdown speed of between 150 and 170 knots while operating with moderate to high landing weights. Under certain conditions, it is reported to have a touchdown speed of above 170 knots at around 180 knots. Those high speeds are typically when the aircraft is heavy and/or the conditions are gusty.

Higher speeds allow aircraft to maintain more stability and control during gusty conditions. Not only are these landing speeds high compared with Boeing and Airbus aircraft, but they are also high compared with other Douglas/McDonnell Douglas aircraft. For example, the DC-10 has a typical final approach speed of around 140-150 knots when at its maximum landing weight. The DC-8 is similar. The regional Boeing 717/MD-80 lands within this range, although it can be 130 knots when lightly loaded.

Having a tail engine does not inherently make the MD-11 trijet more difficult to fly, but it does make it less forgiving and more demanding in some regimes. The issue was how McDonnell Douglas modified the DC-10 into the MD-11, including by incorporating a smaller horizontal stabilizer and aft-biased center of gravity envelop in cruise. These changes allowed the aircraft to reduce drag and increase efficiency, but they also reduced natural pitch damping and longitudinal stability. This is particularly notable during low speeds on approach and landing.

Multiple Issues With The MD-11

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It can be noted that while the most infamous issue for the MD-11 has been its high landing speeds and reduced tolerance, this does not account for all of its hull-loss and fatality-causing accidents. The most recent accident with UPS was due to its engine detaching, nothing to do with its high landing speed.

The first fatalities in 1993 were caused by a design flaw that allowed the slats to be deployed while in cruise, causing the deaths of people on China Eastern Flight 583. The 1998 Swissair Flight 111, which claimed the majority of MD-11-related deaths, was from a fire starting in its electrical wiring from the first-class in-flight entertainment system.

The high landing speed and low tolerance have contributed to the MD-11’s accidents and driven up its poor record, but it is far from the only issue. Many of these issues are more of a symptom of its age, having been developed in the 1980s. Since then, the industry has learned more lessons, and regulations are much tighter, something contributing to delays in the Boeing 777X entering service.

FedEx’s MD-11s Return To Service For Epilogue

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Since the UPS crash in November 2025, the world’s remaining MD-11s had remained grounded until May 2026, with UPS taking the decision to permanently retire its fleet. This mostly leaves FedEx as the final major operator. The FAA has recently approved Boeing’s proposed solution to return those aircraft to service.

Boeing hasn’t elaborated on the proposed fix, while FedEx said that its MD-11 aircraft have already begun returning to service. FedEx plans to return its trijet fleet to service and keep them flying for a few more years before phasing them out by 2032. As of the time of writing (May 2026), Planespotters.net shows that two MD-11s have returned to service, while the other 27 examples of FedEx’s 29-strong fleet remain grounded.

The US freighter airline, Western Global Airlines, is the other operator of the type. However, even though it has around 14 examples in its inventory, most are not operational. These include around 11 stored aircraft and four operational aircraft that remain grounded following the UPS crash.

A Story In Its Final Chapter

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Since the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 first entered service in 1990, commercial Boeing and Airbus aircraft have gotten much safer. Even the Boeing 737 MAX, with its highly controversial 2018 and 2019 crashes, has an otherwise superb safety record, especially when adjusting for how many MAX aircraft are in service.

Long gone are the days when 25% of the commercial fleet could be expected to be lost to accidents or when the industry would make rookie (but catastrophic) mistakes like early de Havilland Comets using squarish windows. The MD-11 was an improvement over those early aircraft, while also having below-average safety for its time.

By comparison to today’s aircraft, the MD-11 can appear to be an unsafe aircraft. Be that as it may, the trijet’s marathon is almost at an end. Only around 15% of the original fleet of MD-11s can be expected to return to the air, and these are only expected to fly for another six years before being permanently phased out. That said, it’s possible some airframes may be able to find new niche lives, like Orbis’s DC-10 Flying Eye Hospital.